Contrivance of producing water gas in horizontal coke ovens



May 20, 1941. H. KOPPERS CONTRIVANCE OF PRODUCING WATER GAS IN HORIZONTAL COKE OVENS Filed Oct. 14, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 20, 1941. H KOPPERS 2,242,306

CONTRIVANCE OF PRODUCING WATER GAS IN HORIZONTAL COKE OVENS Filed Oct. 14, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 20, 1941 CON TRIVANCE OF PRODUCING WATER GAS 1N HORIZONTAL COKE OVENS Heinrich Koppers, Essen, Germany, assigner, by mesne assignments, to Koppers Company,

Pittsburgh,r Pa.,

a corporation of Delaware Application October 14, 1939, Serial No. 299,466 In Germany October 17, 1938` 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to improvements in or relating to coke ovens and in particular to coke ovens in which steam or the like is introduced by special means into the coking chambers when the coal to be carbonized is sufiiciently or completely formed into coke.

By the diiusion of steam throughout the mass of glowing coke pure Water gas Vis produced, in case steam is introduced into the oven chambers on completion of the distillation of coal therein. Should it happen that the distillation of coal has not yet been completely finished it is possible to produce a distillation gas rich in water gas when steam is passed through the coke already formed in the oven chamber.

It has been proposed to provide ports in the chamber sole of coking ovens through which steam may be introduced into the chamber, so as to produce for example water gas by reaction with the glowing coke present in the coking chamber, or to expel the distillation gases from the cham-` ber charge in a quick way so that the valuable hydrocarbons contained in the distillation gases are spared from decomposition. The ports disposed in the oven sole are, however, clogged up very soon. The caking coal becomes pasty or plastic during the carbonization and it may happen that it penetrates into all the cavities or openings existing in the bottom. If the chamber charge is Wholly or partly carbonized and if steam has to be introduced into the oven chamber, the steam is hindered from entering the chamber in a uniformly distributed manner. In consequence, the emciency of the water gas production is very low.

The invention now has for its object to provide a series of cavities in the oven sole along the side walls of the oven chamber. The cavities are filled down to the oven sole with a lumpy material for instance broken coke or pieces of refractory stones, These cavities are connected with a steam delivery channel or the like which extends underneath the chamber over its whole length. The filling of lumpy material into the cavities, according to the present invention, prevents the caking coal from penetrating in plastic condition deeply into the bottom steam ducts so that the free passage for the steam from the steam channel is always suiciently large. The coal or coke particles which may penetrate into the spaces between the individual lumps of the filler are easily consumed by reaction with the hot steam. In this way the steam may be distributed uniformly over the whole length of the chamber into the glowing oven charge.

With the above and other objects and features of my present invention in view, I shall now describe a preferred embodiment thereof on the lines of the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through the oven chambers of a coke oven battery built according to my present invention.

Fig. 2 shows on an enlarged scale a vertical section taken transversely through the lower part of the oven chambers on line II-II of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line III-III of Fig. 2 likewise on an enlarged scale.

'I'he same characters of reference designate the same parts in all of the above figures of the drawings.

In the cokng chambers I, the coal is heated, thus causing the formation of coke. The chamber I is formed by the side walls 2, the bottom 3 and the roof I0 Both the coke and pusher side ends of the oven chamber I are closed by doors II during the carbonization process. The coal to be carbonized is lled into the oven chamber through the charging holes I3 disposed in the oven roof. The distillation gas evolved during the carbonization process is discharged through an opening I4 provided in the oven roof I0, and the ascension pipe I5 is connected therewith.

The oven chambers I are arranged side by side and separated by the heating walls 2. The heating walls consist of a series of adjacent vertical heating flues 4 extending over the whole length of the heating wall. The heating media are delivered to the heating ues 4 through channels disposed at the bottom of same. The channels II serve to introduce air or air and lean gas. Horizontal channels I8 are situated underneath the heating flue sole and they deliver the rich gas through vertical channels I94 into the heating fiues, if the oven battery is heated with rich gas. Regenerators 5 extend beneath the chambers and they are connected through the channels Il with the heating ues 4. The present invention may be adopted for any kind of coke ovens. Therefore it is unnecessary to give here an exact description of a certain coke oven type.

A series of oblong cavities 6 are provided in the oven sole alongside the chamber side Walls 2. These cavities are filled with a ller 'l consisting of lumpy material e. g. broken coke or pieces ofy refractory stones. The cavities 6 are in communication with a horizontal longitudinal channel 9 by means of horizontal cross channels 8, the longitudinal channel 9 extending over the whole length of the chamber beneath same.

The C011- l maybelaidthroughthisdistancesothattheof the arrangement oi.' steam inlets.

The bottom cavities l are suitably lled in such a manner that the fillervoccupies the cavities up to the chamber bottom so that the coal charged into the chamber cannot enter the bottom cavities.

The connection between the longitudinal chan;

nel l and the bottom cavities i is suitably throttled so that the unavoidable differences in the ilow resistance of the various iillers 1 over the whole length of the chamber are automatically balanced and a uniform distribution of the steam across the whole length of the chamber is arrived at. v

The provision of cavities 0 for the'introduction of steam into the oven chambers in'the chamber sole along the side walls of the chambers oilers the special advantage that the layer of coal lying above`the narrow cavities l transforms immediately after the" charging of fresh coal into theoven chambers from the plastic state into the solid state of coke as this outer chamber sole obtains ahigh strength inspite.l

coal layer is first subjected to the heating from the oven walls. The coal charge therefore has not much time to penetrate from the outer end layers across the cavities t of the oven sole into the fillers of said cavities. The caking coke formed in the coking oven after the distillation has finished and after shutting of! the steam supply for the purpose of producing'water gas, can ltherefore be pushed out fairly easily. as the cavities do not oder any appreciable resistance Ato the pushing of Lthe coke.

The invention as hereinabove set forth is embodied in a particular form of construction but it may be variously embodied since various changes may be made, without departing from the invention` or sacrificing all of the advantages.

,within the scope of the following claim',

v teriai. said cavities being communicably connected by horizontal cross channels under the oven sole with vertical ducts, the vertical ducts being 3o beneath the cross channels and being communi- 

